Serabee 'Serabee EP' album

Serabee has come a long way from her days of sneaking out of her Kiln, Mississippi childhood home to explore the vibrant music scene in New Orleans. "Music is in my blood, and the road I've traveled can't help but form my music," says the singer/songwriter. Singing since the age of five, Serabee became part of her Preacher father's touring band almost before she could read - performing across America's fertile spiritual-crescent with her four siblings and mother in tow.

With an eye on developing her own secular music career after building a buzz on the New Orleans scene, Serabee began to bend her musical horizons even further. She ultimately landed a deal with Universal Republic, and she cites influences ranging from Prince and Ray Charles to Aretha Franklin and Sam Cooke that helped craft her new EP. In addition to her soulful voice, Serabee boasts impressive songwriting skills (Charlotte Church's #1 single "Crazy Chick") as well as outstanding chops on a Hammond B3 organ and piano.

The fiery blonde is quickly rising to the top as she was just named a New Artist To Watch by Clear Channel and an About To Pop Artist by AOL Music. With the release of her SERABEE EP today on iTunes and the recent premiere of the video for “Driving Me Stupid,” it is the perfect time to get to know this budding star.

Serabee biography
I’ve got it bad...as if you couldn’t tell...

Serabee’s Universal Republic debut is a righteous reminder that a female singer/songwriter flexing such depth and vocal daring is a force to behold and sweet to the soul

. She hails direct from Bret Favre country, rural Kiln, Mississippi, (just a stone’s throw or two from N’awlins) – with the wandering strains of roadhouse blues and rollicking revivals repurposed and psychically ingrained in every song on her debut: Irresistible pop and R&B adorned with a soulful vocal presence and an I’m-gonna-knock-you-out poise that she couldn’t/wouldn’t fake if her life depended on it. As she so aptly puts it: “Music is in my blood, and the road I’ve traveled can’t help but form my music.”

You can hear it in the rueful ache of “Come Down To Earth,” - ‘/it’s time to do some soul searching/will you follow me back down to earth/’ - or the sexy pomp of “Driving Me Stupid.” In the video she straps her self to an organ - her instrument of choice – (she’s a mean piano player as well) but you get the feeling that before the end of the tantalizing clip we’re the ones that might have to be held down.

She’s even written a song that keeps those more visceral impulses in check - the rousing “The Rest Of Me,” which she says is a women’s anthem – ‘a play on words, a reminder that there is so much more attached to us women than meets the eye.’ But something also tells you after one listen she relishes spittin’ out a verse or two aimed at keeping all those bad boys at bay. She also harnesses a masterful soulful range on the debut, capturing a sticky 1960s sway in the exotic “Tell Me,” making it clear she’s got a swagger as big as her voice.

Collaborators on her jubilant debut effort include Nick Trevisick and Doug Morris, among others. For Serabee, the CD is a culmination of life-experiences and a joyous embrace of unchartered territory, with the charismatic singer/songwriter firmly at the wheel. “People ask me where do I get my crazy ideas or why do I dress so outlandish sometimes and I tell them it feels good to be in control. If my music is about anything it’s about being sure of where I stand now. Certain about where I’ve been and what I’ve learned and where I hope I’m headed.”

Her own manager’s been prone to proclaim she walks with ‘angels’ - and what an odyssey it’s been. Singing since the age of five, she became part of her Preacher father’s touring band almost before she could read - performing across America’s fertile spiritual-crescent with her four siblings and mother in tow.

‘It was kind of a Sunday-go-to-meeting-Partridge family” she says - playing for church crowds and curiosity seekers across the south, throughout the Carolinas and up and down the east coast.; A wondrous, learn-as-you-go musical education, complete with Serabee mastering those surging Hammond swells, and discovering iconic secular influences such as Little Anthony and The Imperials, Aretha Franklin, and Sam Cooke along the way - ‘my father did have some out-of-church musical leanings about him’ she smiles.

It’s about here where she offers up one of her favorite musical icons – Prince! “I just love the way every fiber of his being is about the music. That talent and that passion combine in a way where you’re just in awe. There has never been anyone like him,” she says. It’s no surprise that you can hear a similar sense of abandon in the tear-it-up tempo of the Prince-like “Wacked Out Chick.”

She also cites Ray Charles has a huge inspiration. Her biggest influence, however, is legendary multi-instrumentalist Steve Winwood, citing his amazing soulful capacity which has enabled him to fuse genres and pioneer an open-ended approach to songmaking that still blows musicians and fans away today. “There is a soulful thread to his music – to the multiple genres he brings under that umbrella that is unmatched,” she says. “Whether it was with Blind Faith or Traffic or his great solo repertoire, he is somebody who has made every song his own. The richness that he introduced with his Hammond organ playing alone is astounding. His live show is still an indescribable experience.” Incredibly, Serabee’s family has had the good fortune to tour alongside some of the greatest African American gospel groups of all time, including, The Williams Brothers, Jackson Southernaires, Doc McKenzie, and Darius Brooks and the Thompson Community Singers, among others, all of which she includes as spiritual and musical mentors.

The family group’s all-for-one mentality inspired her father to combine their love of music with another family passion – cooking. Her parents opened a restaurant back in Kiln and the effervescent singer, who went by the handle Sister Sera at the time, traded off between serving hungry guests and performing for them. “I would just jump up and do my thing,” she says. But eventually, her older brothers yearned for marriage and families of their own, and the group performances started to be come less frequent.

No problem. The fearless Serabee began sneaking out of the house late at night with her sister to sample the ‘vibe’ and musical repertoire flowing at nearby Mississippi casinos. “We’d flash the fake-ID and watch the lounge bands, sneak into the House shows, anything we could think of to catch the performances on stage. I learned so much,” she says, including how to make those all important music-biz connections. Serabee would invite musicians she befriended to watch her perform at her dad’s church services, and in turn, players and production hands were introducing her to the world of workaday stagecraft completely outside the religious realm. With an eye on developing her own secular music career, Serabee began to bend her musical horizons even further. She made demos and widened her networking circle, eventually coming to the attention of legendary music business producer/A&R executive Gary Katz (Steely Dan, Rikki Lee Jones, among others). The young singer would land her first go-around as a new artist on Dreamwork Records before they closed down. When that label folded, she simply dusted herself off, still eager to follow her muse wherever it led.

“Next stop, London England,” she says. “I was even more determined to have myself be heard. But I was also ready for a change of atmosphere and London kind of opened my eyes even more.”

A late night expedition into a London soul club called the Sugar Hut would be another musical turning point in her career. “I remember walking down the steps and hearing Al Green playing, but it wasn’t a record. It was a band, a real live band and not a DJ,” she says. “It was like I found ‘home’ all over again.” She would eventually record a live album, working diligently on her songwriting skills, which led to writing a massive hit for Welsh singing sensation Charlotte Church. The 2003 hit, “Crazy Chick,” became a big hit in the UK, and would later be braided into the above-mentioned nugget, “Wacked Out Chick.” Serabee also ventured to Nashville, mid-decade, to work with a host of writers there. It’s no mystery why she returned enthusiastically this past year to craft her new set of songs. “Working with Nick (Trevisick) was such a great process. He had this great basement studio which was like a laboratory for me after literally traveling the world writing songs. There was something about being there everyday that grounded me.”

There’s no doubt Serabee’s nomadic musical instincts fan the flames on the fiery self-titled debut. Note perfect and a helluva’ lot of fun, she’s a soul siren who’s not afraid to let loose in ways almost forgotten on contemporary records tempered by auto-tune.

Also known for her emotive, uplifting auditions, it was the piano-tinged romp she put on for the executives at Universal republic that would ultimately seal the deal. “I guess I’ve never been afraid to show what I’ve got,” she smiles, slyly reverting to that wry lyric on “The Rest Of Me”: /’Who cares what I look like under this dress./ I know that you will be impressed….you’ll love the rest of me…’

The truly amazing feat is that she was able to pour such an undeniable essence into every groove of her new EP.

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